The Niagara News is the community newspaper of Niagara College located in Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is created and produced by the students of the Niagara College Journalism program.

NHL Season Preview

Those of you who were waiting in anticipation for the return of the NHL better get strapped in. The NHL season is almost upon us, with only the weekend standing between us and regular season hockey. *Insert high-pitched squeal here*.

Canadian teams last season did not fair very well in an ever-growing struggle to get to the post-season. Even the Montreal Canadiens saw their three-year playoff streak ended by frivolous play and some key injuries, namely to goaltender Carey Price.

The writers at TheHockeyWriters.com have already submitted their predictions for the outcome of the 2016-17 season and their findings look very promising for the seven northern teams. According to them, three Canadian teams (Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa) are destined for a post-season berth while the remainder have to spend another year in draft-lottery purgatory.

The best part about hockey is how unpredictable it can be. No roster will look the same come the end of the year. Just like no team is guaranteed a playoff spot come April. A lot of questions remain unanswered and just like every other sports writer in the world, I plan to answer them.

With less than a week to go until the skates grind the ice, I’m taking a detailed look at all the Canadian teams (plus Buffalo) in the NHL. Starting in order of highest in the standings last year:

OTTAWA SENATORS

The Ottawa Senators are coming off a year of failed goals in a season of high anticipation. After losing to the Canadiens in the first round of the 2014-15 playoffs, the Sens entered the 2015-16 season in hopes of not only returning to the playoffs, but dominating them. As we know, not every Cinderella story has a happy ending. They settled for the 11th pick in the draft after last season. The outcome? Prospect Logan Brown. Brown will likely spend the year in the OHL with the Windsor Spitfires, so it’s not anything to gawk at. The entire front office for the Sens got a face lift. New coaches Guy Boucher and Marc Crawford look to bring a revitalized look to this group. New Senators General Manager, Pierre Dorion, was not the busiest of bees this summer, but still managed to make a key trade by acquiring Derick Brassard from the New York Rangers in exchange for Mika Zibanejad. Brassard will make an excellent addition to a potent offence and will also merge nicely with his new coach’s speed-demon strategy and crash-the-net style. Captain Erik Karlsson will look to improve on his already torrid career. Look for him, and other key contributors like Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan and Mike Hoffman, to make a splash this season. For the Sens this year, I find their weak point to be goaltending. If Craig Anderson can play a complete, healthy season, the Senators have a shot at the playoffs.

What a sad season for the Canadiens. Or should I say, Les Canadiens? Either way, it wasn’t pretty to watch the heart-and-soul of Quebec sports eat the dirty one without all-star goaltender Carey Price to man the ship. The Habs locker room divided and it led to the eventual departure of fan-favourite P.K. Subban (traded to Nashville for Shea Weber) and affected the team’s scoring noticeably. Without Price, the team’s GAA went from 2.24 in 2014-15 to 2.84 just one year later. What happened to the Canadiens last season will likely be events they shush about at the dinner table years later. I wonder how the Canadiens will welcome P.K. when he visits the Bell Centre on March 2. I also wonder how the new additions will fit into the lineup. Habs General Manager Marc Bergevin went for size this off-season and got lucky when former KHL’er Alexander Radulov entered the mix. The Habs now not only have the size, but they have the healthy mix of size and speed that they’ve been lacking. The formula usually leads to better scoring, but anything could happen in the NHL. Les Canadiens are ready to take on the best of them. They have the grit. They have the wheels. And most importantly, they have the goaltender.

1. I live in the Niagara region and I understand the local fascination with the Sabres. They’re the only other “local” team besides Toronto. 2. There are three Eastern Conference teams and four Western Conference teams on this list and I like balance.

When the Sabres lost the rights to the first-overall pick in 2015, people said they lost the entire draft. Jack Eichel was everything the Sabres hoped for and more last season and I dare anyone to prove otherwise. He had five GWG goals last season. Despite a -16 rating on a losing club, he still posted a 47.8 per cent Corsi rating in 81 games for Buffalo. How about Anders Nilsson in that game at the Meridian Centre? He looked like shades of his 2008 self that got him drafted by the Islanders. I believe he will have a role on the team come the beginning of the year. Newcomers Kyle Okposo and Dmitry Kulikov look like good pickups and certainly won’t hurt this rebuilding squad. Finally, I’d like to point out that Evander Kane should try his best to keep his job and his personal life in order. One more outburst and his job may be on the line. Unfortunately for the Sabres, I don’t see much hope of a playoff run in such a tight division. In two to three years, these guys will be cup contenders.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Jets play again this season. For a second, I struggled to figure out why they missed the post-season last year. I thought of all the talent this team has to offer. Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford and second-overall-pick Patrik Laine. But then I remembered, their back end falls flat onto that limp net-minding situation. The Jets hardly did anything with their off-season, didn’t make any trades and settled for their top pick to make an immediate impact. I’m predicting the Jets will have to look elsewhere to find help. If they’re not comfortably in a playoff spot by trade deadline, look for them to jump ship to find help in goal.

Welcome back Calgary. After a long snooze, it finally looks like this team is headed somewhere. My favourite move of the summer was the Flames picking up Brian Elliott for a couple picks. What a steal. A better steal than Hall-Larsson in my opinion. The Flames biggest need at the time I’m writing this, is signing elite forward Johnny Gaudreau. The left-winger scored 78 points (30G, 48A) in 79 games for Calgary last season. The back end for Calgary looks good as it’s been since the days of Dion in his prime. Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie and Dennis Wideman are all big threats on the ice defensively. Dougie Hamilton is number four on their depth chart, meaning the Flames could put some of the meanest men in hockey on the ice every shift and still have some left over to crush you. If the Flames don’t clinch one of the first playoff seeds this year, I’ll write a tribute to Ladislav Smid.

Well, here they are. The Canucks have finally exploded their team and now have to rebuild around the Sedins again, only this time, they are 36 years old and if they both go (which they will at the same time) then the Vancouver Canucks have a massive hole in their top six. They don’t have to worry for now. Right now, the issue is the back end, which I say doesn’t even have a top-two defenceman. Alex Edler has seen his best days and Chris Tanev has never been asked to play key minutes in tough situations. The pressure all falls on goalie Ryan Miller to put this team on his back and steal some games for the Canucks. On the plus side, Vancouver used their fifth-overall pick to select Finnish defenceman, Olli Juolevi. He’s an all-around great skater and has a natural play-making ability. If the Canucks get a case of the injury bug early in the season, perhaps Juolevi could play in 2016. He scored nine goals and added 33 assists in 57 games with the London Knights last season.

What a summer for the Edmonton Oilers. Not only did they have Jesse Puljujarvi fall in their lap, but General Manager Peter Chiarelli got busy this summer and finally pulled the trigger on a deal for a big defenceman. It wasn’t what he was looking for, and the initial shock rocked the hockey world when Taylor Hall and Adam Larsson were moved on that June day. Then Chiarelli went and signed his bigger, grinding replacement, Milan Lucic. I’m going to shake at the opportunity to watch him play with McDavid. Now that future Wayne has his Messier, who will step up and play the other key roles that made this team a dynasty during the ‘80s? Darnell Nurse perhaps? The Oilers look like an all-around better team this year looking ahead but still have one more move to make. Forward Nail Yakupov is unhappy with management and wants out of Edmonton. Talks surround him moving for another forward in the west, but those rumors should die down once the season gets going. If Yakupov doesn’t start performing, it’s curtains by the trade deadline.

Out of all the teams on this list, the Maple Leafs look like the most improved team overall and for one reason only – Auston Matthews. He might finally be the hero the Leafs have been searching for. The Leafs have not had a 50-goal scorer since Dave Andreychuk got 54 in 1992-93 with the Leafs and Sabres. This will be the next Leafs 50-goal scorer – not right now, but eventually. The Leafs need a couple more pieces to complete this team. Although, they may have solved their goaltender issues with Frederik Andersen between the pipes, the Leafs could still use another top-six forward and another top-four defenceman. The Leafs are not destined for the playoffs this season but they are moving in the right direction. If they can build around Matthews and his amazing ability, the Leafs will be a contender sooner rather than later. Other than goaltending, the Leafs did not make any major moves this off-season and yet have come so far in their rebuild. Nazem Kadri is the projected number one center coming into the season and will play alongside Joffrey Lupul (if healthy) and Leo Komarov. The team that ranked 28th in goals last year needs to contribute if they’re to help their newly refurbished back end.